Massachusetts sets strict targets on greenhouse gases

Matt Murphy

Wednesday

Dec 29, 2010 at 12:01 AMDec 29, 2010 at 7:37 PM

Massachusetts will seek to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to 25 percent below 1990 levels over the next 10 years, giving the state one of the strictest emissions codes in the country under new regulations to be set by the Patrick administration.

Massachusetts will seek to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to 25 percent below 1990 levels over the next 10 years, giving the state one of the strictest emissions codes in the country under new regulations to be set by the Patrick administration.

Energy Secretary Ian Bowles announced the legally binding targets Wednesday after a two-year review process, choosing the most stringent emissions control level available under the 2008 Global Warming Solutions Act, which set the parameters for reductions by 2020 of between 10 percent and 25 percent.

The state hopes to wring a 7.6 percent reduction in emissions out of transportation reforms, including two new policies that would incentivize purchases of fuel-efficient vehicles and give drivers a break on insurance rates for driving less.

Under one new policy prescribed in the state’s Clean Energy and Climate Plan for 2020, the Patrick administration plans to pursue lower rates on new-car sales taxes, annual auto excise taxes and registration fees for high mile-per-gallon vehicles. The change, according to the plan, could be revenue neutral.

The state is also looking to pilot a program that would give consumers a variable premium on their auto insurance based on the number of miles they drive.

The state hopes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. Bowles, who is leaving the administration at the start of Gov. Deval Patrick’s second term, had until Jan. 1, 2011 under state law to set the emissions reduction goal for 2020.

“Establishing this statewide GHG emissions limit and outlining the specific and practical policy measures that can achieve that limit is a milestone in the Commonwealth’s ongoing efforts to create a vibrant clean energy economy, reduce energy costs for consumers, increase energy independence and contribute toward stabilizing our climate,” Bowles wrote in his letter of determination. He called the target “responsible and achievable” and said it “will not have an undue economic impact.”

Massachusetts is one of 10 states nationwide with a legally mandated restriction on greenhouse gas emissions along with California, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington.

Though several states equal Massachusetts’ ambitious goals for 2050, none rival the 25 percent reduction aimed at in the Bay State, with the closest perhaps being Maryland which has called for 25 percent below 2006 levels by 2020 with an exemption for manufacturers. Minnesota set a goal of 15 percent below 2005 levels by 2015 and 30 percent by 2030, but also carves out exemptions for certain power plants.

Massachusetts accounts for roughly 1.3 percent of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions, but state energy officials believe the state is in a position to “show the way to a clean energy economy.”

“Our motivation is primarily around how you continue to transform the Massachusetts economy to be a disproportionate beneficiary in the transition to clean energy,” Bowles said.

The state plans to reach that goal by continuing with a number of policies and programs already in place and prescribed by the state Green Communities Act and other federal laws as well as implementing a series of new pilot programs and legislative initiatives.

Current emission levels are roughly even or slightly below those of 1990 already thanks to a transitioning of the Massachusetts economy from industrial to service-based industries and a shifting away from oil to natural gas power, which now accounts for up to 40 percent of the state’s energy portfolio.

“What’s most interesting about this plan is that on a completely cost effective basis you can reduce emissions by 30 percent and I think that is significant news for the national debate which is sort of stale and partisan and not exactly fact based,” Bowles told the News Service.

Other policy initiatives and expansions include a new energy rating program on buildings, similar to the EPA’s miles-per-gallon rating on cars and light trucks; rebates, training and technical support to retrofit existing buildings with better insulation and windows; developing a market for solar thermal water and space heaters; and creating incentives to plant trees around new and existing buildings to limit energy loss.

Massachusetts is on pace to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 18.5 percent in 2020 without any new policies or initiatives by pursuing programs put in place through the Green Communities Act and other executive and federal actions, but Bowles said it was important to start now to put the state on a trajectory to reach its more ambitious 40-year goal.

He said the first 30 percent will be relatively easy, but reaching the 80 percent reduction goal by 2050 will be difficult to do at the state level alone, requiring a federal commitment to “transform our power generating sector” and make dramatic changes to vehicle and appliance efficiencies.

Calling it “manifestly not true” that cleaner energy requires a trade-off in jobs, Bowles pointed to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative that joined 10 Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states in a compact to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions from fossil fuel-fired power plants by 10 percent by 2018.

“RGGI demonstrated you can run a 10-state cap-and-trade program and at the basic level no consumers have noticed,” Bowles said.

According to the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center survey of 471 local companies, the green energy sector employed more than 11,000 people in Massachusetts at the end of 2010, up 65 percent over the past three years.

Bowles estimates that the policies being put in place to achieve the state’s greenhouse gas reduction goals will create 42,000 to 48,000 jobs by 2020 with growth in the clean energy sector enough to offset losses in other areas.

New regulations put forth by the Environmental Protection Agency forced the Somerset Power Station to cease operation in January, and energy officials expect the Salem Harbor Station to close within five years costing at least 100 jobs.

“To the degree that it’s replaced by wind and solar, those are much more labor intensive to install and maintain. Things like that will be an economic gain,” Bowles said.

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.